TheEmissary wrote on Jan 30, 2013, 16:46:I think you guys aren't seeing the bigger picture. Google is doing this so they don't lose content creators to rival sites like Vimeo. Vimeo a couple months back implemented a similar pay wall system for videos. I think they are implementing it to keep pace with the features found on the other video streaming upstarts.

Well, if it was just for that they'd let Vimeo put up its pay wall and let content creators go there and laugh when they come crying back. Anyone going behind a paywall at Vimeo is likely to make less than they would on YouTube via ads alone.

This is because they want to do this, not because Vimeo is forcing their hand. Their market share is what, 90%+ of online video traffic? What Vimeo does hardly matters unless it could actually steal users, and given that YouTube was free it's unlikely much of anything would do that.